Minersville Reservoir, etc.

What a fun day!  Todd temporarily has 2 boats so we each hitched one up and spent a great day on the water.  Jeff's youngest brother, Jay, and his family drove down to spend the day with all of us as well.  Sadie was thrilled to finally see her closest cousin, Ana.  They had so much fun together.  I was able to get up on one ski on my 2nd try, but sadly there is no photo proof.  I did capture Sam and Jeff up on skis.  The rest of the gang were on the other boat tubing.  They had a great time, but the camera was with me. 

The next photo was the last ride of the day.  Jay and Benson may have felt like they were riding a bull.  The weather turned nasty pretty quick and, while the picture doesn't really show it, the water was choppy to say the least.  It was one wild ride!  From the smiles on their faces, they don't seem to mind too much.

On our way back to Todd's, we stopped at Parowan Gap to see the Indian Petroglyphs and Dinosaur footprints. 

In the above photo, can you see the silhouette of an Indian face in the rocks?

In the center is a three-toed dinosaur footprint.  It looks like it's been cast because the rock formed in the print.  A great day!

Kanarraville Falls

After a day of relaxing at Uncle Todd's house, Jeff, Todd, and Debra took the older kids on an awesome hike to Kanarraville Falls.  I stayed behind with the youngest ones.  Much of the trail was literally through the river.  It looks like they all had a great time.  (I'm not sure I would have been too happy to have to climb up that makeshift ladder to get to the falls...)

Bryce Canyon

Admittedly, the kids were done by the time we arrived at Bryce Canyon so this may not be high on their list of happy things.  However, I loved it.  We'd seen so many rock formations already.  What more could there be?  It turns out some of the best were waiting for us in Bryce.  Beautiful!

Goblin Valley

I grew up in Utah, but I'd never heard of Goblin Valley.  Jeff has wanted to go there since he heard of it 20 years ago.  The kids loved it!  We even camped overnight.  A highlight for sure.

 Do you see the face in this one?  Cool.

Arches

Awesome.  The hard part was deciding which of the bazillion photos to post.

 

A huge highlight of our day came at dinner.  We went to Denny's in Moab for some real food.  When it was time to go, our server brought us our receipt.  A moment later he came back and asked to see the receipt for a minute.  When he returned, he said our bill had been taken care of.  My guess is the nice couple from Indiana a couple of tables over paid for our meal.  We had talked to them briefly while waiting for our food.  Regardless of who it was, it sure made us feel good.

The coolest potty break

It felt like we'd all gone potty 30 minutes ago.  Okay, maybe it was an hour.  So when Sadie announced she had to go, Jeff pulled off at the nearest rest stop somewhere in the Rockies in Colorado.  Not only were the facilities clean, the beach was a big plus!  If only all rest stops could be like this! 

Kansas

After successfully making our way out of Illinois and across Missouri, we drove all the way across Kansas.  It took forever.  We thought we'd never get through Kansas.  But we made it!  That's definitely something to be happy about.  We won't talk about the horrific hailstorm outside of Denver.  But the rainbow afterward was pretty cool.  16+ hours and just over 1,000 miles of driving today.  So far so good.

 The first big storm of our trip

Good for a laugh

Packing for 8 people to go on vacation for 2 weeks is a daunting task and it's taken all day.  So I thought I'd just quickly post this music video gem.  I hope you laugh.  We did! 

The Star Spangled Banner

During a recent visit to Maryland, Jeff and I went to Ft. McHenry.  In August 1813, when Francis Scott Key woke after the British withdrawal, he looked to the fort and saw the flag "still there".  Inspired, he wrote the poem that became our national anthem.  You can see that the flag flying there today is a replica of the one he saw, with 15 stars and 15 stripes.  We also saw the actual flag in the Museum of American History in DC.  It's in pretty rough shape but still inspires.

Green Tomato Salsa

We're headed out on vacation next week and I'm worried our tomatoes will be finished before we return.  This recipe is just the thing to use up some of the big green ones before we head out.  I made up a double batch today.  Yummy!!  

GREEN TOMATO SALSA 

•     5 medium green tomatoes

•     2 jalapeno peppers (I only used one, no seeds)

•     1 small onion

•     1 garlic clove

•     2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

•     1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I didn't add this)

•     Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor.  It'll be thin, but oh so good!